I thought the Baen Free Library, a collection of free to download, science fiction ebooks, was a pretty neat idea in theory. There are something like 97 free ebooks in various popular formats ready for download, some apparently by relatively successful authors. Many of them are supposed to be the first in a much longer series, which makes their inclusion in the library a pretty bright idea for the author as well. If you like the first, you're likely to keep reading. Releasing your first book for free is a good marketing decision in many cases, I'll have to bet.

The problem for me is that there's really no way to tell from the site -- at least no way I could find quickly -- which ones are likely to be better reads other than downloading tons and trying them out. The only thing I hate more than not finishing books is starting a really bad one. Well, that's a bit hyperbolic, but I believe the point is clear enough.

What to do? Well, obviously I whipped out NVu and started copying and pasting what turned up when I searched on the titles on Amazon. Hopefully I'll slowly go through and get Amazon's reviews. No, I'm not planning on dating when I retrieve them nor even, in some cases, will I likely ensure I've gotten the right book if there's more than one by the same name. Still, hopefully useful.

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